Snowshoe, WV

My Christmas gift from James... a trip to Snowshoe, WV!!!! I was completely surprised... and he even arranged childcare (thanks, Anne & Jimmy!) We had the GREATEST time... drove up last Sunday... skied Monday & Tuesday... back home on Wednesday... relaxed! It snowed most of the time we were there... there were VERY few people on the mountain... and the slopes were perfect. We skied the main ski area, went night skiing at Silver Creek, and even braved the Western Territory (Cupp Run... 1.5 mile black diamond!) We both came home in one piece... thankfully!!! We cannot wait to go back... thank you, James... what an awesome surprise!!!

We stayed in the Allegheny Springs Resort overlooking the village.Sunrise or Sunset??? For anyone who knows me well... you should know this is definitely a sunset b/c I prefer to be asleep when the sun rises ;o)

Taking a break at the Boathouse.

At the top of the Widowmaker!

At the bottom of the Widowmaker... we are in one piece!
Our snowbunny... we promised the kids we would make a snowman...

Polar Bear 5K

Leslie & I ran the Polar Bear 5K again this year... the weather was perfect and there was record turnout for the race. This race is on trails, not the road... and we really enjoyed it! We finally broke a 10 min/mile pace... despite the big hill at the end of the race (woot woot)! We are still training and hoping to improve our pace so we can finish the Bridge Run in under 1 hr!!! Lots of work still to do...

Roller Skating

We spent a Saturday afternoon at the roller skating rink... Jessica & Jaycie love to skate, but this was the first time Jamie & Jacob tried! I really wasn't sure what to expect... and we drove 2 cars b/c I honestly thought one of us would be taking the twins home after ~ 30 minutes. Once again, they proved me wrong! They LOVED it... especially Jamie! They skated the entire time everyone else did... and after Jamie got comfortable, she didn't want us to hold her hand OR skate behind her... Miss Independent. Jacob did well, too... but he held on tight to one of us the entire time. When it was time to go... it wasn't b/c the kids were tired... but b/c James & I were! Jamie has constantly asked to go back since the minute we left... hopefully soon!! I always love it when we find activities that all the kids really enjoy doing!!

Mary Francis, Jessica, & Marianna

Miss Independent on skates...

Conversations

Jacob LOVES to talk! More so than all of the girls, combined... seriously. I never imagined that HE would be our talker, especially since he pretty much didn't talk at all until he was 2 yrs old... but since he started, he hasn't stopped.

Yesterday at breakfast:

Jacob (with an uneaten bagel & fruit on his plate): "Mommy, can I have some yogurt?"

Me: "After you eat what I have already made for you."
Jacob: "But I want yogurt now..."

Me: "When you finish eating what I have already given you."

Jacob: "Mommy, you don't take very good care of me!??!"

Me: Laughing too hard to reply...

Jacob's conversation with Santa at the mall before Christmas... he didn't start with hi... or Merry Christmas... or a list of items he wanted for Christmas...

Jacob: "Santa, how did you get here? Where is your sleigh?"

Santa: "They dropped me off and went back to the North Pole to work."

Jacob: "Oh!"

This morning:

Jacob: "Mommy, does Jesus live in heaven?"

Me: "Yes, he also lives in your heart!"

Jacob, tapping his chest: "Well, I don't feel him in there..."

And... Jamie & Jacob's conversation while playing house... I love listening to their conversations together and how Jamie answers Jacob's many questions... Jamie was the Mommy, Jacob was the Daddy, and they were carrying a baby doll...

Jamie: "Jacob, we are on our way to heaven."

Jacob: "Why are we going to heaven?"

Jamie: "Because our baby is sick and God will make her better."

Jacob: "How long will it take us to get there?"
Jamie: "About 9 minutes."

We Wish You A Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!

We have had a WONDERFUL Christmas break! I am so thankful that we were able to spend time with family and find time to relax with the kids. When the kids got out of school the last day, I was most looking forward to spending time with them without having to worry about who had to be where next... and that is exactly what we did. One of our "projects" was making gingerbread ornaments... something I thought would be a quick & easy project... but wasn't. The recipe I used said it would be easy to cut into cookie shapes.... wrong. After putting the dough in the fridge overnight (much to Jacob's dismay)... and almost doubling the flour the recipe called for... we were FINALLY able to cut shapes. THEN... the recipe said it would take 20 minutes to bake... wrong again... it took over an hour. With 3 batches of cookies... the oven ran ALL day. Time to paint, thanks to help from Geri... time to coat w/clear coat (which almost knocked us out every time we went in the garage for several days b/c of the smell)... time to add ribbon thanks to help from Nana... finally done! So... if you received one of these ornaments, know that it was made with LOTS of love... and the kids really did enjoy having something to give that they had made... here is the final product from one batch (next year, the kids might just make cards??!!)

We also had lots of Christmas celebrations! We had a WONDERFUL dinner with Londa, Troy, & Hunter (our neighbors). We have been blessed with the BEST neighbors... when we moved from Wake Forest I thought we would never get that lucky again... thankfully, I was wrong...

The kids & I were also able to spend a couple of days with Geri at the beach. It was nice to get away and have time to relax... we did make it out to the beach for a few minutes... but it was COLD!

Making Santa cookies!

Papa & Memommy came to stay with us at Christmas... we went to the Candle Light Christmas Eve service at our church. I love, love, love this service... but was nervous this year because Jamie & Jacob were going to sit with us the entire time... on Sundays they get to go out after ~20 minutes to children's church... and it can be a challenge to get all 4 to sit still & quiet. Thankfully, they were perfect... Jacob sat beside Papa and all was well!
This year, we decided to let the kids open gifts from us and from each other on Christmas Eve (well... I'll just be honest and tell you that I promised this to the twins if they were on their BEST behavior at church, which they were!) I think this will become a tradition for us (not the bribery, just the opening of family gifts on Christmas Eve...) Then we checked Santa's whereabouts via Norad, and put out the reindeer food, Santa cookies, & eggnog (yes, we have discovered that Santa LOVES eggnog... more so than plain old milk...)

We have a "rule" in our house... don't get out of bed before the sunshine comes up if it isn't a school morning... but that obviously didn't apply on Christmas morning b/c as you can tell by the window... it was still VERY dark. The kids were delighted to find that Santa was good to us once again... thanks to Jingle's nightly reports to Santa of good behavior (our Elf on the Shelf).
Even Black Jack & Raymond were on Santa's list... they were invited in the house and had a few goodies in their stockings!
The weekend after Christmas, we finally made it to the light show at the zoo. This was our first time, and we loved it! Unfortunately, Jamie & Jacob had to stay home with a sitter... they would not have made Santa's good list on this day... Jamie promises that next year she will be good enough to go see the lights!
The lights didn't impress the girls (or me) nearly as much as the baby koala!!!! Momma & baby were awake and eating... I guess that is an advantage of going to the zoo at night!

We headed "home" to Raleigh for New Years! We were able to see James' family and celebrate Christmas with them... and, as always, eat lots of goodies!
Then we headed to Nana & Papaw's to bring in the New Year and celebrate Christmas with Shelly, Jan, & Sydney! Jessica & Jaycie stayed awake until midnight to celebrate the arrival of 2010!!!!
Relaxing time... this is what I was so looking forward to most... time to enjoy each other... and that is what we did! I love this picture... it sums it up... when I came downstairs this morning... this is what I found on the couch...

We hope that YOU had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you & yours ALL of the best in 2010!!!!